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Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Uncovering the Mysteries of Spanish Moss Part 1: The Science Side

Somewhere in
Georgia, along I-95 south, I took a photo of a bunch of trees that caught my
attention. Well … it wasn’t exactly the trees that had caught my eye, it was
what I can only describe as hair-like clumps of dark stuff which hung like
garland from their branches that did it. To me, this stuff looked like clusters
of grapes on zombie steroids; limp, lifeless, and greyish in color.

I was
immediately smitten with the stuff. Fascinated by it, actually. I don’t think
it’s limp and lifeless. I think it has a lot of character and personality. How
it hangs from tress, cascading from limbs in a tangled mess of silvery strands,
to me, projects a sense of mysteriousness onto the landscape and creates an
ominous presence about it.

Spooky. I
love it.

Our
traveling buddies, John and Angie, told me it was Spanish moss. I had to learn
more about this Spanish moss. Where
does it grow? Does it grow on trees or from them? How does it grow? Why don’t I
see any of this stuff in Ohio?

Once we came
back from our Florida vacation, and got resettled in (sometimes you feel like
you need a vacation from your vacation), the hunt to learn more about Spanish
moss began. I turned to the trusty Internet and simplified my search by using
the keywords: Spanish moss.

I was quite
amazed with the amount of information available on the topic, and although a
lot of the information, as I discovered, was repeat info it told me that
Spanish moss is a hot topic…everyone seems to have some sort of interest in it.
I can relate.

The first
thing I learned: Spanish moss is not a moss at all, and not even of Spanish
origin. It is, oddly, related to the pineapple.

I also
learned that Spanish moss is not a parasite (although it does carry parasites
such as chiggers, so be wary).

It does not
depend on the tree to survive. It actually does no harm to the tree at all.
Instead, Spanish moss uses it for real estate purposes.To a degree it’s a real estate guru and as any
real estate guru knows it’s all about location, location, location. The perfect
location for the Spanish moss is a nice hardwood tree such as the likes of the
gum, oak, bald cypress, elm, and pecan trees.

We Ohioans
can boast about our fair share of trees. The buckeye is our state tree and has
been since 1953. We even have the same trees that make ideal homes for Spanish
moss (actually only two: the oak and elm), but Ohio lacks the satisfactory
environment needed to sustain Spanish moss growth.

Found in the
southern states, Spanish moss is a plant that feeds off the air. It doesn’t
seem to care if the tree it finally attaches itself to, and calls home, is dead
or alive. It feeds off what floats in the air using its leaves and stems and
literally drinks in the atmospheric moisture.

It spreads
itself, or propagates if you prefer to call it, in two different ways: via
birds and wind. There are little flowers that grow on the Spanish moss and they
produce a teeny, tiny seed that will eventually get swept away by the wind.

Birds are
responsible for stealing the Spanish moss for their own homes (it does make a
nice bedding and was once used to stuff furniture for our own homes). During
transport the birds will often lose a chunk of the Spanish moss, thus giving it
an opportunity to attach itself to a new home and continue to grow.

How it knows
where to find the right tree is beyond me.

One of the
things I found amusing were the different names given to this grey, hair-like
plant. The term Spanish moss was evidently
adopted over time. The first name given to it was by the Native Americans who
called it tree hair.

The French
explorers caught wind of the name tree
hair and decided to change it for their own wicked purposes, and to spite
their rivals the Spaniards, by calling it Spanish
Beard.

Once the
Spaniards caught wind of the name they took it upon themselves to change it to French Hair as a means to get back at
their foes, the French.

Even back in
the 1500’s they fought dirty.

Other names
include, Greybeard, southern moss,
and Florida moss.

Of all the research
I gathered about Spanish moss there is something that intrigued me the most.
Something that is so fascinating it makes you wonder if it could be true.

Although I
did not directly cite any source in particular, I think in only fair to list
those I did discover, and who were very instrumental in helping me write this
article. I found them all interesting and each source helped to enhance my
knowledge of Spanish moss. I provide them here with the hopes that they will
help you too.